Prevalence of three-chick nests in Adelie Penguins Pygoscelis adeliae at Cape Crozier, Ross Island

VIRGINIA MORANDINI; AMELIE LESCRÖEL; DENNIS JONGSOMJIT; SUZANNE WINQUIST; ANNIE SCHMIDT; GRANT BALLARD; PETER KAPPES; KATIE M. DUGGER

Volume 47, No. 1

Volumes > 38 (2010-->) Volumes 28-37 (2000-09) Volumes 18-27 (1990-99) Volumes 5-17 (1978-89)
a.k.a. Cormorant

Quick Search by author or article title:

Prevalence of three-chick nests in Adelie Penguins Pygoscelis adeliae at Cape Crozier, Ross Island

Authors

VIRGINIA MORANDINI^1*, AMELIE LESCRÖEL², DENNIS JONGSOMJIT², SUZANNE WINQUIST², ANNIE SCHMIDT², GRANT BALLARD², PETER KAPPES¹ & KATIE M. DUGGER³

¹Oregon Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, 104 Nash Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA *(virginia.morandini@oregonstate.edu)
²Point Blue Conservation Science, Petaluma, CA 94954, USA
³US Geological Survey, Oregon Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, 104 Nash Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA

Received 23 July 2018, accepted 06 December 2018

Date Published: 2019/04/15
Date Online: 2019/02/16

Download PDF

Citation

MORANDINI, V., LESCRÖEL, A., JONGSOMJIT, D., WINQUIST, S., SCHMIDT, A., BALLARD, G., KAPPES, P. & DUGGER, K.M. 2019. Prevalence of three-chick nests in Adelie Penguins Pygoscelis adeliae at Cape Crozier, Ross Island. Marine Ornithology 47: 77-80.

Key words: Antarctica, seabirds, adoption, fostered chicks, twin chicks, coloniality, supra-normal clutches

Abstract

In 2017/18, we recorded multiple instances of Adelie Penguin Pygoscelis adeliae nests containing three chicks at Cape Crozier, Ross Island, Antarctica. In one sub-colony, 0.67 % of nests had three chicks, or two chicks and one egg. We found that some Adelie Penguin pairs were willing to brood three chicks, as well as chicks that were not their own. Many factors could lead to supra-normal clutches and broods, including foreign eggs added to a nest, adoption of chicks belonging to other parents, and double-yolked eggs. In order to understand the true cost of colonial breeding in large Adelie Penguin colonies and to assess the source of chicks or eggs in supra-normal clutches and broods, we conclude that future studies should examine the frequency of supra-normal clutches and broods and analyze the genetics of chicks within sub-colonies.

References

AUBIN, T. & JOUVENTIN, P. 2002. How to vocally identify kin in a crowd: The penguin model. Advances in the Study of Behavior 31: 243-277.

AINLEY, D.G., LE RESCHE, R.E. & SLADEN, W.J.L. 1983. Breeding Biology of the Adélie Penguin. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

AINLEY, D.G. 2002. The Adélie Penguin: Bellwether of Climate Change. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.

BEER, C.G. 1979. Vocal communication between Laughing Gull parents and chicks. Behaviour 70: 118-146. doi:10.1163/156853979X00025

BROWN, K.M., WOULFE, M. & MORRIS, R.D. 1995. Patterns of adoption in ring-billed gulls: Who is really winning the inter-generational conflict? Animal Behaviour 49: 321-331. doi:10.1006/anbe.1995.0045

CARTER, L.R. & SPEAR, L.B. 1986. Costs of adoption in Western Hulls. The Condor 88: 253-256. doi:10.2307/1368927

DAVIS, L.S. & McCAFFREY, F.T. 1989. Recognition and parental investment in Adélie Penguins. Emu - Austral Ornithology 89: 155-158. doi:10.1071/MU9890155

DUGGER, K.M., AINLEY, D.G., LYVER, P.O., BARTON, K. & BALLARD, G. 2010. Survival differences and the effect of environmental instability on breeding dispersal in an Adélie penguin meta-population. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107: 12375-12380.

DUGGER, K.M., BALLARD, G., AINLEY, D.G., LYVER, P.O. & SCHINE, C. 2014. Adélie penguins coping with environmental change: Results from a natural experiment at the edge of their breeding range. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 2: 68.

FERRER, M. 1993. Natural adoption of fledglings by Spanish Imperial Eagles Aquila adalberti. Journal für Ornithologie 134: 335-337. doi:10.1007/BF01640429

GRAVES, J.A. & WHITEN, A. 1980. Adoption of strange chicks by Herring Gulls, Larus argentatus L. Ethology 54: 267-278. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0310.1980.tb01244.x

HELFENSTEIN, F., TIRARD, C., DANCHIN, E. & WAGNER, R.H. 2004. Low frequency of extra-pair paternity and high frequency of adoption in Black-legged Kittiwakes. The Condor 106: 149-155. doi:10.1650/7337

HUNT, G.L., JR. & HUNT, M.W. 1975. Reproductive ecology of the Western Gull: The importance of nest spacing. The Auk 92: 270-279. doi:10.2307/4084556

JEFFREY, F.P., FOX, T.W. & SMYTH, J.R., JR. 1953. Observations on double-yolked eggs from the domestic fowl. Journal of Heredity 44: 213-216. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a106397

JENNINGS, S. 2015. Provisioning, Growth and Survival of Adélie Penguin Chicks at Cape Crozier, Ross Island, Antarctica. MSc thesis. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University.

JOUVENTIN, P., BARBRAUD, C. & RUBIN, M. 1995. Adoption in the emperor penguin, Aptenodytes forsteri. Animal Behaviour 50: 1023-1029. doi:10.1016/0003-3472(95)80102-2

LYON, B.E. & EADIE, J.M. 2008. Conspecific brood parasitism in birds: A life-history perspective. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 39: 343-363. doi:10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.39.110707.173354

PILASTRO, A., PEZZO, F., OLMASTRONI, S., CALLEGARIN, C., CORSOLINI, S. & FOCARDI, S. 2001. Extrapair paternity in the Adélie Penguin Pygoscelis adeliae. Ibis 143: 681-684. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.2001.tb04898.x

ROTHSTEIN, S.I. 1990. A model system for coevolution: Avian brood parasitism. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 21: 481-508.

ROMANOFF, A.L. & ROMANOFF, A.J. 1949. The Avian Egg. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

RYAN, P.G., DYER, B.M., MARTIN, A.P., WARD, V.L., WHITTINGTON, P.A. & WILLIAMS, A.J. 2013. Supernormal clutches in southern African Kelp Gulls Larus dominicanus vetula. Ostrich 84: 157-160.

SLADEN, W.J.L. 1958. The Pygoscelid Penguins. I. Methods of study II. The Adelie Penguin, Pygoscelis adeliae (Hombron & Jacquinot). Scientific report no. 17. Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey. London, UK: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.

STEARNS, S.C. 1976. Life-history tactics: A review of the ideas. The Quarterly Review of Biology 51: 3-47.

STONEHOUSE, B. 1960. The King Penguin (Aptenodytes patagonica) of South Georgia: I. Breeding behaviour and development. Scientific report no. 23. Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey. London, UK: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.

TAYLOR, R.H. 1962. The Adelie penguin Pygoscelis adeliae at Cape Royds. Ibis 104: 176-204. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1962.tb08644.x

TRIVERS, R.L. 1972. Parental Investment and Sexual Selection. In: CAMPBELL, B. (Ed.) Sexual Selection and the Descent of Man 1871-1971. Cambridge, MA: Biological Laboratories, Harvard University.

WIENECKE, B.C. 1995. Adoption of chicks by Little Penguins Eudyptula minor on Penguin Island, Western Australia. Emu - Austral Ornithology 95: 119-122.

WILLIAMS, T.D. 1994. Adoption in a precocial species, the lesser snow goose: Intergenerational conflict, altruism or a mutually beneficial strategy? Animal Behaviour 47: 101-107. doi:10.1006/anbe.1994.1011

WHITEHEAD, A.L., LYVER, P.O., BALLARD, G. ET AL. 2015. Factors driving Adélie penguin chick size, mass and condition at colonies of different sizes in the Southern Ross Sea. Marine Ecology Progress Series 523: 199-213. doi:10.3354/meps11130